Conrad, Charlie, thank you so much for joining me today.
I mean, you're both lifers really in the field of
the chemicals industry, the net zero transition, sustainability,
and and green tech.
So I think talking about how innovation and collaboration can drive the net zero
transition in your industry is a home turf for both of you.
Conrad, I'd like to start with you.
You've often said leading in the net zero transition is something that's very close
to your heart at Clariant.
That's also why you're a founding member of the Global Impact Coalition.
Why?
How did this come about?
Our company, Clariant, is all about chemistry for a cause,
for a greater cause:
our purpose statement of the company's greater chemistry between people and
planet.
And for us, that is really the driver of growth.
What made you choose that path of getting together with other companies in the GIC
to do this together?
Clariant is a frontrunner in sustainability, but we cannot do it alone.
What we very much like in this coalition is that it is not a group where people
talk with one another, but where there's basically active
projects—where companies together come up with new innovations to drive
sustainability. And Charlie, you've mentioned this before that the
transition to net zero needs to be business case led.
What's a very practical example of how you're doing this together?
So to give you maybe a very concrete example as what are the sorts of projects
that we are focusing on,
and then how do we dive into that from a sustainability case,
from a commercially viability case as well.
So we have a project looking at end-of-life vehicles.
We are looking at how do we create the business case knowing that we have the
companies around the table who have essentially offtake demand for all of
this plastic fraction.
And then how do we then link that across from a value chain perspective.
So working with these sources, the dismantlers, the shredders, the OEMs,
for example, in order to create a business case that
wouldn't have been able to exist if any one company was to try to do this alone.
And then, of course, the question is, how are you then able to scale this
through the Global Impact Coalition members?
I'd like to stay on that scaling challenge for a moment.
Conrad,
if you look towards the future of the net zero transition,
what are some of the trends and the technologies that you feel are really
going to make an impact?
Sure.
Well, if I look at this from a Clariant
perspective, what for us is a key development is the
energy transition,
circularity is a core trend where we also enable, for example,
chemical recycling or mechanical recycling.
And then there is a broader trend where consumers get more and more aware of
sustainability, and are increasingly asking for these
products.
Conrad, thank you for sharing that example.
Thank you both for joining me here today.
Thank you.